3 boys arrested in 'ginger' attacks

School holds tolerance seminar as 3 boys are arrested in 'ginger' attacks
The 12- and 13-year-old boys may face criminal charges after allegedly beating up 11 red-haired students at a Calabasas middle school. Most parents urge strong punishment.

By Victoria Kim and Richard Winton
November 30, 2009
www.latimes.com




Monique Kleinfinger and her daughter Samara, 12, recount how she was hit by a half-dozen other students at A.E. Wright Middle School on Nov. 20. "They seemed to think it was a big, funny joke," Samara said.


The Calabasas middle school that was shaken this month by attacks on redheads was jolted again Monday when news spread that two 12-year-olds and a 13-year-old had been arrested in the bizarre incident.

Apparently spurred by a Facebook site and inspired by the animated "South Park" television show, "Kick a Ginger Day" brought notoriety to A.E. Wright Middle School, an ordinarily peaceful campus that sponsored a tolerance assembly for students Monday in the wake of the attacks. The "South Park" episode, first shown in 2005, was itself supposed to be a lesson in tolerance but misfired, with harassment of red-haired students taking place at schools across the U.S. and Canada over the last few years.

[...]

In Calabasas, a parent said she knew one of the boys who was detained and described him as shy and quiet. Alexandra Townsend said the boy was recently bullied himself, tied to a basketball pole by other students.

Townsend said she's considering private school for her daughter, Jasmine. While students had mixed opinions about the significance of the incident, parents who spoke to The Times Monday were not at all ambivalent.

"They should be very, very harsh with the punishment," said Ruthie Stockfish, who was dropping off her daughter Ella's clarinet. "My daughter has light-brown hair. She's cute. Is tomorrow going to be cute-kid-hitting day?"

OMG what is going on these days. I thought south park was rated high because of the cursing and the sexuality. what are parents doing letting these kids watch it. I'm mad these kids did that and even madder at the parents who let them watch it.........

Wow, people take things way too far. When it was kick a ginger day, I simply nudged and tackled my best friend. South Park's bad, though. :|

What's wrong with people these days? Seriously.

I saw that south park episode, it really didnt have much to do with anythign that happened. I believe this was ment to be a joke but as all things certain people take it too far. I mean kicking your friends as a joke is fine, but then you get kids who run around and kick all the gingers they can find apperently giving more than harmless taps on the shin.

-sigh- Just because it's on TV... doesn't mean you have to do it.

The episode has nothing to do with kicking gingers.

I blame the parents, not the show. However, I don't blame the parents for letting the kids watch the show. Shielding children from reality only creates more problems. Parents need to take a more active roll and discuss with their children what is "right" and what is "wrong".

Censorship does not create better morals, or values. Censorship creates closed minds that regard an act as "wrong" without thinking about why that act is "wrong".

Southpark is a very funny show, the only problem lies in that the humor on that show can be seen as both adult and immature. Immature children laugh at the toilet humor, but often are not intelligent enough to see the greater social commentary behind that humor.

I believe these children that acted violently need to be spoken to and educated on violence, not just blindly punished. At that, the punishment should be no different than any other punishment for violence.

Oh, and if that woman thinks that private schools will be any better for her daughter, she is dead wrong. Private schools can kick students out, where as public schools cannot. That is the only difference. Jerks exist everywhere.

The article seems to attribute the incident - or at least connect it - to South Park. I'm not familiar with the show, however.

Considering the media has become a more powerful means of influence, I believe it must be held responsible should it contribute (even indirectly) to notorious acts in the society. That includes the internet, which is more difficult to monitor. Parents can play a role but they are less influential than the media. That can be argued.

Bilbo wrote:

The article seems to attribute the incident - or at least connect it - to South Park. I'm not familiar with the show, however.

Considering the media has become a more powerful means of influence, I believe it must be held responsible should it contribute (even indirectly) to notorious acts in the society. That includes the internet, which is more difficult to monitor. Parents can play a role but they are less influential than the media. That can be argued.

The media is indeed a very powerful influence, full of many biases, much information, and a entertainment that isnt always suitable for all demographics/psychographics. I could argue that this article has a conservative bias in that it relates and insinuates fault upon Southpark, especially when the episode in question did stress tolerance. People have the freedom to think for themselves, and in this case turn off a program should they chose to.

I still cannot hold South Park accountable for this incident, where obviously these children had some sort of anger, or problem with violence in the first place. Just because a few people without proper parental guidance took a show about tolerance too far and missinterpreted it's moral, that doesn't mean that society as a while has to be punished, or that the show (or TV a medium) must be censored to a greater degree. If parents are less influential in their child's life than the media, than that parent has not done a good enough job being a parent.

People with free-thinking, open minds that posses their own set of morals are not easily swayed by the media/government's. It is a parent's job to instill morals in childrean, and to be part of their child's life. Part of that is the implementation of dialogue and education.

That episode was great *sigh* Cartman = Hitler.

And the parents that let their kids watch this stuff are just as much to blame as the kids themselves. I mean cmon, after EVERY commercial break it has a warning... TAKE A HINT!!!

Obviously the warnings didn't work lol. What are they for anyway? It looks to me that warnings only serves to free the broadcasting company from legal responsibility. It's like posting offensive material on a forum in a spoiler thinking the spoiler will save your butt. Or like saying 'no offense' in a conv and then utterring offensive speech. If you really care, you'd modify the whole presentation/show/post/whatever to make it harmless in all means.

The warnings at there to free the show/network from some backlash, but mostly to warn people unfamiliar with the show. The warnings are used in good faith, being used often and being shown for long enough for an individual to read the warning clearly.

Forums often have a set of rules and guidelines that lay down the definition for "offensive", where as the media (TV in this case) does not. There is no country-wide moral code (in the USA) setting standards for what is funny vs. offensive. Each family has to set their own code of values. If TV and the media already set forth some kind of moral code, that would give parents an even bigger excuse to use the TV as a baby-sitter, and thus not be involved in the lives of their children.

I would be very angry if Southpark was taken off the air, and so would many other people. Just because a few misinterpret the meaning behind these episodes, that doesn't mean that all of society should suffer.

Parents have to take an active role if they want to shield their children from reality. TV, movies and video games all have ratings and warning. There are safeguards set up to enable parents to screen what shows their children can watch. Heck, maybe if the parents watched this show, too they could talk to their children about the episode...sort of like how teachers will read and "now what was the moral of the story?"

I still think that these children had some issues deeper than just mis-handling an episode of Southpark. An old episode of a cartoon show was not the primary force behind these children getting violent; they have some other issue that made these kids think that it's ok to hurt other people.